It’s been a tennis tournament of carnage in Auckland, with barely a name player left in the Heineken Open after three days.

Illness, injury, bad luck and rusty play means only two seeds are left, and even the brief Kiwi singles success ended quickly on Wednesday.

The latest to go was the top remaining seed, second seed Ernests Gulbis of Latvia, who put in a rusty, error-ridden performance to go down 6-2 3-6 6-1 to Czech qualifier Jiri Vesely.

Tommy Robredo, David Ferrer, John Isner and Gael Monfils earlier pulled out before they hit a ball, while third seed Roberto Bautista Agut withdrew in his second round match with illness.

The tournament has also lost the top doubles pairing in the world, the Bryan brothers, after a controversial line call on Tuesday.

Gulbis’ preparation had been affected by illness, which prevented him playing in Doha last week.

It meant his play of having two tournaments prior to the Australian Open was foiled and he only had two days of practice with full health prior to Wednesday’s match.

“I’m really sorry I lost today because I’m sure second or third round would be better. But I didn’t serve well and I don’t feel my forehand yet,” Gulbis said.

“Honestly I don’t think he did much to win if you see all the breaks. I made all the mistakes.”

Vesely, 21, who said the win was the best of his career, now plays Donald Young of the United States in the quarter-finals.

Even the feelgood factor produced by New Zealander Michael Venus’ first round singles win on Tuesday didn’t last long when Venus was beaten 7-5 6-4 by Lucas Pouille of France.

But the big serve and forehand which served him well against Gonzalez wasn’t enough against 20-year-old Pouille, who retrieved well and who also served to a high level.

“He’s a younger guy that’s up and coming, he’s consistently moved up through the rankings and I’m sure he’ll keep moving up, he’s a good player,” Venus said.

The only seeds confirmed in the last eight are Kevin Anderson of South Africa and Steve Johnson of the United States, who take on each other in the quarter-finals.